Counting Stars
by Raven's Favorite Emotion
Summary: She was the princess and he was the hero and he was supposed to be able to save her. Terra/Aqualad


**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Nope. Don't own it. Sorry. I also don't own the lyrics to the song I used here. I just felt like they were kind of appropriate. :)**

**Dedication: For Clair-Rae for putting up with my crazy Aqualad/Terra obsession even though she probably doesn't care. Thanks so much dear! :)**

_I am more than you know, street lights and open roads  
I am more than a face, stuck living in one place_  
-Runaway by Thriving Ivory

_Counting Stars_

**(after) **

She's cold stone, staring at something that he can't see. He wonders if she's really in there or if it's just wishful thinking on his fellow Titans part. People don't just turn to stone, even if they have an affinity with the earth.

Terra didn't meet Medusa, she wasn't part of a myth. Even if she was her part in the myth didn't even make sense. She was the princess and he was the hero and he was supposed to be able to save her. Except he didn't, because she lied and told him that everything was okay even though it wasn't.

The only thing that she did was try to save others, but she couldn't even save herself. She never could, though, because that's just the way that she was. Terra was a lot of things; beautiful, kind, rash, thoughtless, but strong never was one of them.

Slowly he reaches out his hand to touch her face. He can't help but think that if she were real she'd press her face against his hand and her cheeks would glow with the blood that would rush up her face. Instead the only thing that he feels is smooth, cool stone.

He doesn't want to be angry with her. He doesn't want to hate her, but he can't help it. She left him, left him all alone. She lied to him and he didn't know why. Nothing should have been worth her life.

Her sins were, though, obviously. And because of them now she left him all alone. And a piece of him can't help but hate her.

.x.

Hindsight's always twenty twenty.

.x.

He gets over her, he moves on, but it hurts so damn much. Normally he's so clear headed but it seems that wherever she's concerned it seems like he can't think. The only thing that he can do is wish that she would go away.

But then he finds out she's back. The rumor moves throughout the grapevine of the Titan members. They're all teenagers, after all, and they love their gossip. And just the whisper of hope is enough to have him back to the way that he was before, right when he found out that he lost her.

He goes to Jump City to see her. She's in the park, alone, in a swimming suit cover-up, flip flops on her feet, and sunglasses covering her eyes. He knows that she won't go swimming, one of her big dark secrets was that she was terrified of water. If she's still Terra, of course, but he can't help but think that she is.

There were a few times when he thought that he could see her, but they all ended up not being real, his brain finding similarities that weren't there just to torture him. But this girl, whoever she is, in an exact carbon copy. They move in the same way and their features are identical.

Before he can stop himself he throws himself in her path. She stops short when she sees him. He can't figure out if she thinks he's crazy or if she- maybe- recognizes him.

For a heartbeat it's almost being with her again, but then the moment's gone and so is whatever speech that he was going to give her so that she might remember him.

Slowly, ever so slowly, she moves her sunglasses from on her face to the top of her head, blue eyes squinting. "Do I know you?" she asks, confusion in her voice.

Trying not to dance with relief he replies calmly, "Better than anyone."

**(during)  
**  
"You know, one day we should try to count the stars," she tells him. Both of them our lying on their backs, their clothes getting sandy and the gritty minuscule pebbles are grinding into their backs. But neither of them care because here they are, being together. Being together is almost enough for them to forget that between them lies a sea of secrets.

They act as though there isn't a tower filled with five people behind them that don't know what they're doing. Just like always it's just the two of them and it's more than enough.

"Do you know how much time that could take?" he asks, smiling at her.

She smiles back, a real smile, her first one all day. Aqualad makes himself so easy to love and he doesn't even know it. "I know that however long it would take is as much time as I want to spend with you." There are stars reflected in his eyes and for a second Terra wants to pretend that she has that much time.

.x.

"I love you," he says, so gently that it makes her heart hurt. She can't believe that he said that. She wants him to love her, wants him to know every part of her. She wants to know if Aqualad would love her then.

Probably not.

"I love you too." She means it more than she's ever meant anything. But she knows that there's a time limit that he isn't aware of. More than anything she wants to tell him, she wants him to know that they can't be forever.

Terra just can't make herself do that. She doesn't want to face it herself.

So, for the first time, she lies to him. "Forever."

.x.

He kisses her like she's breakable, and maybe she is. She's just not sure anymore. Because tomorrow's the day, the day she breaks his heart and her own as well. This will be the last time that he will ever see him that he won't look at her with hate.

But she can't help it; after all she's already sold her soul to the devil. She did it long ago.

She'll never forget the way that his hands get tangled in her hair, how gentle she is, the way that he makes her heart swell three times bigger whenever she's around him, which isn't even enough.

She promises to take this memory to the grave.

.x.

She does.

**(before)**

The meeting place of their two elements is where they meet. For a second the only sounds are ones of their breathing and of the waves crashing against the waves. But then, in a way that he will soon come to know is just her way, she smiles at him. "Who are you?"

Crossing his arms over his chest with a confidence that he doesn't feel he replies, "I think the better question is who are you?"

"Terra."

This, he realizes later, is the beginning of the end.

**A/N: So, totally not my usual style at all but I kind of like it! I'm starting to get into a really important part of _Jar of Hearts _and I'm trying to put that off as long as possible, so you guys get this! Hope you enjoy!**


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